Monday, February 7

Stats and More

A nice article on the Sonics' website regarding how the team uses statistics to help it make player acquisition decisions, written by the always-interesting Kevin Pelton. It's pleasant to see that Seattle isn't afraid to look beyond scouting to evalute players, but that they aren't so arrogant as to antagonize scouts the way I believe the Oakland A's have done.

In other news, this comes from the Chicago Sun-Times:

"Destined Hall of Famer Gary Payton of the Boston Celtics dearly wants to be traded to his fifth team in two years, preferably to a contender on the West coast. But his best shot at a deal is Seattle, which traded him to start with, unless Minnesota can entice Danny Ainge to take Sam Cassell in exchange."

Not sure who Seattle would be trading, and I honestly think the Glove wouldn't fit with the Sonics as they are currently assembled.

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According to the NY Daily News, Phil Jackson may be headed for Seattle. As much as I admire PJ, I'll take Nate, thank you very much.

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As to the debate over whether Rashard Lewis can lead the Sonics ...

"Rashard did a great job," said associate head coach Dwane Casey, who is guiding the team while McMillan is away. "He held them together. He was their captain throughout the night. He did a great job of rallying the guys together and made sure they stayed together when things got a little frayed."

from Seattle's game against the Kings last week.

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Looks like Ray Allen will be on the cover of the PSP NBA game. Or, you can buy the bootleg version with Flip Murray on the cover. Of course, in that version Murray's pass button only works when he is triple-teamed.